Cook it! 2012 April Resolution: Make Fresh Cheese

Posted on April 15, 2012 | 11 Comments

A lot of people already know how to do this.  A lot of people have also blogged about it too.  I don’t really care, though, because this is the very first time ever that I made this, and I bet there are a lot of people out there reading this that haven’t done this project either.

This month’s cook it 2012 project is fast, easy, and cheap, and aren’t those really the ideal qualities in a good cooking project? (I suppose they can also be the ideal qualities in several other situations, like dates and dentist appointments).

It really is exciting to do a project that only takes about fifteen minutes, costs under $5, turns out completely delicious and makes you feel like some kind of magical food wizard while you’re at it.  

APRIL COOK IT! 2012 RESOLUTION: MAKE FRESH CHEESE

So, I’m calling this fresh ricotta cheese, but that’s not quite accurate.  If I understand correctly, there are a whole family of cheeses that are made by heating up milk, adding acid to separate the curds and whey and then draining off the whey to leave behind the curds (the cheese!).  Technically, real ricotta isn’t made using milk, it’s made using whey.  I’ll be giving that process a try this month too, but since they don’t sell whey at the farmers market or the grocery store I had to start with this.  The cheese that this recipe makes can be used as cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, queso fresco, paneer, and probably some other ones that I don’t know about since I’m no cheese expert….  Whatever you want to call it, this cheese is wonderful used as ricotta in Italian dishes, served with sliced fruit and honey for breakfast, mixed with fresh herbs, pepper and fancy olive oil and eaten on crackers, and a whole realm of other sweet and savory applications.  All you need to get started is milk, cheesecloth and acid.  For the acid you can either use white vinegar, lemon juice or buttermilk.   I used lemon juice, which works great but does leave a lemony flavor behind, so I’ll probably use vinegar next time.  Use the best milk you can find/afford, making sure that it’s not ultra-pasteurized.  I tried a batch with goat milk and another batch with Strauss Organic cow milk.  Both batches turned out great, but I actually preferred the flavor of the goat milk version (because I am a major fiend for goat cheese). Goat milk is always a nice option for people who don’t do well with lactose, and  I’ve also heard that if you  consume goat milk from goats who have been eating poison oak leaves in their diet, it can improve your immune response to poison oak (note: you have to consume the goat products first, before you’re exposed, not after you’ve already gotten the rash).  To make the cheese, heat up the milk to 180 degrees.  Serious Eats has a recipe for five minute microwave ricotta, but I did it the old-school way on the stove.  If you have an instant read thermometer, it helps, but you’ll know it’s time to add the acid when the milk comes to a simmer and starts looking frothy.  Pour in a couple tablespoons of your acid, either lemon juice or vinegar, cook the milk for another minute or two and keep stirring, and you’ll see the curds and whey magically separate. At this point, you pour the separated milk through cheesecloth to strain out the curds.  Different recipes have different times for how long to leave everything draining, but it really depends on your preference and what you’re using it for.  I only left mine to drain for a couple minutes because I wanted it to stay fairly spreadable.  If you were making something like paneer, an Indian cheese used similarly to tofu in lots of different curries, you drain it longer and then press it so that it can be sliced into pieces.  (Can you imagine? Homemade paneer tikka masala? Oh my goodness…)Fresh Ricotta Cheese

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Makes: about a cup

Ingredients:

  • 1 quart of whole milk
  • about 2 tbs. lemon juice or white vinegar
  • 1/2 tsp. sea salt

Heat up the milk in a pot on the stove.  Add the salt.  When the milk is simmering or reads 180 on a thermometer, stir in the lemon juice or vinegar.  (I didn’t really measure so much as pour a few splashes of lemon juice into the pot while the milk was simmering.  If you stir for a minute and let the milk keep simmering, the curds will separate.)  Pour into a colander lined with a couple layers of cheesecloth to drain.  I thought the cheese came out the best when I let it drain for about five minutes.  You can eat the cheese warm or chill it for later.  The cheese will firm up more in the fridge, where it can be stored for about two days.

I highly recommend mixing the warm cheese with the best olive oil you have, fresh herbs, sliced scallions, salt and pepper and eating it on crackers (especially if you’re tired after a long day of work and want to sit down, have a cocktail and a small bite to eat, then it’s really great).

If you don’t want to eat it right away, though, you can always do something crazy like make lasagna:I never use a recipe for lasagna since it’s more fun to raid the garden, the pantry and the freezer for whatever things you want to be in the layers.  Yesterday we happened to have some good looking spinach and spring onions in the garden…so that turned into one layer, and then I had a pack of ground veal from Owen Family Farms — humanely raised, pastured veal! — that was in the freezer, so I threw together a veal ragu for another layer.  I cooked the veal in some of the leftover whey along with red wine, canned tomatoes, onions, carrots, fresh oregano and parsley.  And then, this is a trick that j. taught me when I complained that I hate ricotta cheese long ago, you gotta fancy up that cheese a bit before it goes in the lasagna. I used the batch of cow milk ricotta for the lasagna, which was the yield from one half gallon of milk, and it was just enough to do a medium sized casserole dish.  If you want to have a big casserole or a really thick layer, you should definitely use a whole gallon of milk so you get more ricotta cheese.  To make your ricotta layer tasty and packed with flavor, throw the ricotta into the food processor with an egg or two, some garlic powder, chopped parsley or scallions and a pinch of salt and pepper.  It will be far superior to those bland lasagnas with a layer of mushy, flavorless grocery store ricotta cheese.

and then, you know, you just do the lasagna thing: and then pop that baby in the oven until it’s bubbly and delicious looking.

(Yeah, I know that I usually preach the gospel of fresh pasta with 100% local semolina flour, and those are obviously not fresh pasta noodles, but fresh pasta is not usually a project to do after you’ve already been up for many hours and worked the farmers market and your feet are so sore.  Gotta be realistic here).

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If you want to cook along, e-mail me, thejamgirl@gmail.com, a link to the url of your post by May 15, 2012 to be included in the round-up post.

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I can’t believe I made cheese and it was that easy.  I hope you give it a try too!

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Posted in Cook It 2012, Spring, summer, Vegetarian, What's For Dinner?

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Coconut Chana Masala

Posted on April 12, 2012 | 1 Comment

One of my friends makes the most fantastic Indian food.  I usually like to be the one cooking  for other people, but I would beg her to puhleeeezeeeee please please make Indian food again, pleeeeeze or I might actually keel over and die!  Then she moved to Los Angeles and I haven’t seen her in years now, let alone tasted any of her cooking.  It’s really tragic.   When I win the lottery, I’m going to buy a jet so that I can fly around the country visiting all my friends that have moved away.  This curry is my version of something my friend cooked a long time ago that I might not even be remembering accurately, but I think I’ve got it pretty close here.

This isn’t really an authentic chana masala at all, since chana masala doesn’t usually have coconut milk in it.  Coconut milk  ranks up there with butter, bacon and heavy cream, though, which means that you should put in everything and it will only make it better.  This also has some other spices in it that I think taste awesome but have nothing to do with authentic chana masala.

Oh, and anyone who talks smack about vegan cooking has never tasted this recipe.  The curry is wonderfully rich and creamy with a solid spicy kick from the cayenne pepper.  Serve it with basmati rice, some warm flatbread or tortillas and your favorite chutney for a seriously delicious meal.

Coconut Chana Masala 

Cook Time: 5 minutes plus 1-2 hours simmering on the stove.  This recipe is really, really, really easy and comes together super quickly.

Ingredients:

  • 3 cans of garbanzo beans, drained
  • 2 small potatoes, diced into 1/2”cubes
  •  1 can coconut milk
  • 1”section of ginger, peeled
  • 8 cloves of garlic, peeled
  • 1/2 c. loosely packed cilantro leaves
  • 3 tbs. tomato paste
  • 1 dried cayenne chili pepper (or less, depending on your spice preference)
  • 1 tsp. turmeric
  • 1 tsp. paprika
  • 1/2 tsp. garam masala
  • salt & pepper to taste

In a blender, combine all the ingredients except the garbanzo beans and potatoes.*  Blend until smooth. ( This is not the way you’re supposed to make chana masala but it doesn’t matter because this way tastes amazing.)

In a large cast iron skillet (or a pot works fine too), combine the garbanzo beans, potatoes and the coconut milk-spice mixture from the blender.  Simmer on low heat for an hour or two.  (If you make it too spicy, you can add yogurt and some honey to cool it back down, although it won’t be vegan then.)   Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve over basmati rice with a few sprigs of fresh cilantro.   This is one of those dishes that only gets tastier if you let it sit in the fridge for a day or two, so you’ll be happy if you end up with any leftovers, which you probably won’t.

*(and the salt and pepper…. that’s always last).

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Posted in Fall, Spring, summer, Vegetarian, What's For Dinner?, Winter

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Our New Chickens, and How To Introduce Young Chickens Into Your Flock

Posted on April 10, 2012 | 1 Comment

I swore that I would take more pictures of the baby chicks this time around, and I totally didn’t do it. They just grow so fast; before you know it, their feathers are in and they’re starting to look like chickens instead of little stuffed animals.

I’m really excited for some of the breeds we have.  Up until now, our flock has been 100% ameraucanas, so our eggs are a lovely mix of pastel greens and blues.  When we placed this order with the hatchery, we decided to worry less about egg color more about having an interesting flock with a large assortment of breeds.  I’m particularly taken with the blue-laced red wyandottes, one of which held still long enough for me to take a picture: I ordered us a couple special roosters too.  This guy was absolutely not excited about the camera, but you can see how long his tail feathers already are.  He’s a phoenix, a rare variety where the roosters have wonderfully dramatic tail feathers.  (Click here for some pictures to get an idea of what I mean)The baby chicks growing up means that it’s time for them to join the big girls in the main coop.  If we had tons of space, I would keep them separate for another few months, but we don’t.  I’ve learned a few things about this process over the years, (some of which might conflict with information you may read elsewhere, which usually advises against different age groups in the same coop).

It’s completely possible to combine multiple age groups of chickens into one space.  Ideally, you can keep them separate until they’re full-grown, but not everyone has that much room.  Here are the tricks that I’ve learned over the years:

  • Never put day old chicks with laying hens. The age difference just too much.  Instead, put the day old chicks in a smaller space for a month or two to grow a little bit.  The smaller space doesn’t need to be lavish since it’s so temporary (but do make sure that it’s warm, dry, that they have plenty of food and water and space to move around.) I’ve used rabbit cages, sectioned off areas of the main coop, and makeshift cardboard boxes or storage bins.
  • The actual age that you decide to put the young chicks in with the grownup hens depends on a few variables.  If your hens have a lot of space to roam around, you can put the chicks out a little younger.
  • When you first combine the two age groups, do it about an hour before sunset.  That way, if it’s too soon and the grownup hens start picking on the little ones, they won’t really cause too much trouble because they’ll be going to the coop to go to sleep soon.
  • The most important thing: The key is to distract the grownup hens from the younger ones.  Put out lots of scratch, vegetable scraps from the garden, leftover kitchen scraps, whatever you have.  You want to have the older birds so caught up in eating all this awesome stuff that they don’t notice that there are suddenly a bunch of little ones running around.   Remember, there is such a thing as too much scratch.  It’s much better to give your hens lots and lots of fresh vegetables than to overdo it on the scratch.
  • Pick a day that you’ll be at home and can hang out with your chickens.  Don’t just combine the two groups and assume it’s fine.  There will be the occasional scuffle.  An adult bird may peck a younger chick, and if it draws blood it can turn very dangerous for the younger bird.  If you catch it right as it’s happening, all you have to do is grab the younger bird and wipe off the blood, then the bird can go right back into the group. (I’m talking about a very small amount here, just a speck of blood.  If you’re around to pay attention to the birds, it shouldn’t progress any farther than this, but if it does and you have a bird that has a larger cut that is actively bleeding, you need to separate it from the other birds immediately.)  If the two age groups are not getting along and you’re having to break up more than one or two little scuffles, it means that they’re not ready to be combined yet.
  • It will probably take a couple days for them to be completely comfortable together.  You’ll need to keep a closer eye on your chickens than usual and give them lots to do for these two days.  This is the time to give them a fresh bale of straw to play with, some heads of lettuce to tear apart.
  • The two age groups aren’t supposed to be eating the same food. The calcium in the food for the laying hens isn’t good for the young chickens and you don’t want the older chickens eating medicated chick starter (we don’t use medicated starter, but if you do, know that the medication can end up in the eggs if laying hens eat it).  The best solution that we’ve found is to use a flock-raiser mix and also put out oyster shells for the hens that are laying.

When we first let out the little chicks, this one immediately flew onto j's head and then pooped on him. Charming, right?

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Posted in The Animals, Spring

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Cook it! 2012 March Resolution: Make Butter – Part 2

Posted on March 29, 2012 | 3 Comments

The New Year’s Resolution that I’ve been working on this month is making butter.  It’s a pretty great theme and has inspired several epic cooking projects.  A few weeks ago we used the buttermilk that was leftover from the butter making process to make buttermilk-marinated-bacon-fat-deep-fried-chicken that was ….too good for words.  It was dreamy.   My arteries whispered things to me about how they wanted me to do it and they didn’t care what happened.  I wish I had more of that chicken on a plate next to me right now.  We have 100 baby chicks down in the coop, and now that they’re a couple months old I’ve spotted a few roosters.  Sorry guys.  A few of you are gonna be dinner.  The post that I meant to write, before I got distracted by that fried chicken, was….

(just as ridiculous)

Buttercream frosting.

Oh yeah.    It’s not so much that I want to make a bunch of really unhealthy food, I’m just really interested in learning new things in the kitchen (I swear).  Up until this month, I had never made frosting before in my life, ever.  I don’t even really care about eating it (I have a fried chicken tooth, not a sweet tooth), but I want to know how to make these things from scratch.  I’ve worked as a professional cook in the past, and the fact that I can make really, really fancy savory things but literally cannot bake a simple chocolate chip cookie without totally ruining it somehow seems really absurd to me. I turned to Martha for a starting point, since her recipe for Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting was something that I’d noticed in the past. (Before the days of pinterest, back when you just bookmarked stuff in your web browser.)

So.  What happened, even though these pictures make it look like a continuous sequence, I completely ruined the first batch of buttercream since I have zero experience doing this.  My first batch turned out like runny pudding, which made me cringe since I just used my precious homemade butter for it.  (It won’t go to waste, though, I think it will be great on something like cinnamon french toast).  That means that the finished frosting that you see in these pictures is made with store-bought butter since I was worried about wasting a bunch of expensive cream making messed up batches of frosting.  The moral of the story:  It is so super important to follow the recipe and not change anything.  If it says “stiff glossy peaks” it means “stiff glossy peaks,” not “until you get sick of listening to the stand mixer running on the highest setting,” (Yeah, I know).

The first step in this frosting is whisking together egg whites and sugar in the mixing bowl set over a pot of simmering water.  Easy enough.  (I’m assuming that most people don’t have the intermediate steps of going outside, turning on the generator for 15 minutes since power’s not set up to use a stand mixer right then, fending off the cat who is highly interested in frosting, and then bringing the whole deal back inside once it’s properly mixed.)Beat the egg whites and the sugar in a stand mixer set on high speed for 10 minutes, and it magically turns into beautiful, snow-white meringue. Once you see those stiff, glossy peaks, you can start adding in the butter, a little bit at a time.  The frosting will look like it’s broken, but if you have faith in the power of the stand mixer and just let it keep going, eventually the frosting smooths out and becomes this lovely meringue buttercream.  I was inspired by the orange tree blooming in the greenhouse and decided to scent this frosting with orange blossom water.  The scent is so bright and ethereal, somehow, and so intoxicating. and the second confession of this post:

This frosting is good and all, but it’s really not my thing.  I know, that’s weird.  These cupcakes, though-  even though I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, I’m crazy about them.  For one, I baked something, and it actually worked.  That in itself is a victory.  What’s even more exciting is the way they came out.  They’re not just good, they’re delicious, easy to make, and a great way to use up marmalade.  The texture of the rinds mixed into the cupcake batter reminded me of pannettone, an sweet Italian bread that my mom makes every Christmas.  I had debated puréeing the marmalade before I put it in the batter but I’m really happy I didn’t, because those toothsome slices of rind are what made these cupcakes so exciting. Oh, and I’m fairly certain you could call them muffins and serve them with breakfast if you want, and I can’t emphasize enough: the frosting is entirely optional.  I think they might even be better with a simple powdered sugar glaze brushed on while they’re still hot than with all the fancy looking stuff I did this time. All I did yesterday was do my taxes and pay bills, so it seemed logical that I should spend the afternoon making cupcakes today.  If you’re trying to waste time in the kitchen, it only makes sense that you should take this whole thing a step further and candy a bit of lemon rind to top off everything nicely. (Some people might do the dishes while the cupcakes are in the oven- I find a way to dirty even more of them). And there you have it! Make butter: check.  Make frosting: check.  Bake actual cupcakes that taste good and aren’t burned: check!

Orange Blossom Meringue Buttercream Frosting 

This is adapted from Martha Stewarts recipe.  The main reason I’m rewriting it here and not just linking to her recipe is that I shrank the size of the batch way down (since the last thing I need around is a giant bowl of frosting…. a small bowl is bad enough).   If you want a big batch, just use her recipe here and add orange blossom water.

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Makes: frosting for 7 or 8 cupcakes

Ingredients:

Heat a pot of water up to a simmer on the stove.  Combine the egg whites and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer.  Set the bowl over the pot of water and whisk together the sugar and egg whites until the sugar is completely dissolved and the mixture feels hot to the touch.  Put the mixing bowl back in the stand mixer.  Use the whisk attachment and beat the egg whites on high speed for about 10 minutes, or until you get stiff, glossy peaks.  Keep the mixer going and add the butter, one piece at a time.  The frosting will appear to have separated or broken, but just keep whisking on high for a couple more minutes until it smooths back out again.  Switch to the paddle attachment and mix at the lowest speed for five minutes to get rid of any air bubbles.

If you’re using the frosting within a few hours, leave it out, covered, at room temperature so that it stays soft and spreadable.  If you make it in advance, store it in the fridge and give it a few minutes in the mixer on low to soften it back up when you’re ready to use it.

*FYI: one stick of butter has 8 tablespoons or 1/2 cup.  The original recipe didn’t really divide into perfect even numbers here, unfortunately, hence the 1/3 stick of butter.
Marmalade Cupcakes

This recipe came out so well – I’ll definitely be making it again. I used another Martha recipe here as a framework since, well… I don’t have my own secret cupcake recipe perfected.  Soon.

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Makes: 7 cupcakes

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 c. sugar
  • 4 tbs. unsalted butter
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 c. meyer lemon marmalade (or really any marmalade….)
  • 1 c. flour
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/3 c. milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Place cupcake liners in a cupcake tin and set aside.

Cream together the sugar and butter until it’s light and fluffy.  Add in the egg and mix well.  Add the lemon marmalade and mix well.  In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt and baking powder. Combine the flour mixture into the marmalade mixture, alternating flour with milk and stirring after each addition.  Stir gently just to combine everything.  Spoon the cupcake batter into the muffin tin, filling each cupcake liner about 2/3 full of batter.

Candied Lemon Peel
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Makes: garnish for above cupcakes
Ingredients:
  • 1/4 c. water
  • 2/3 c. sugar + 1/4 c. sugar
  • peel from 1/4 of a lemon

In a small saucepan, combine the water and 2/3 c. sugar.  Cook on high heat, stirring occasionally, to dissolve the sugar.  Meanwhile, use a sharp knife to a cut a few strips of peel off a lemon, trying to get only the yellow zest and little of the white pith.  Lay the peel on a cutting board and slice it into very thin strips.  Once the sugar has dissolved and the syrup is boiling, add the strips.  Cook for a few minutes on medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. When the lemon strips turn translucent, turn off the heat and use a fork to remove them from the syrup. Toss the candied lemon strips in the remaining sugar and then lay them on a paper towel to dry.  The candied lemon is ready to use once it’s cooled down.

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Posted in Baking, Cook It 2012

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Rhubarb Jam

Posted on March 25, 2012 | 13 Comments

I’ve been making marmalades for months now.  There have been oranges, lemons, tangerines, kumquats, grapefruit and pomelos scattered all over every surface in kitchen. Every time I finish with one case of citrus, I’ll swear to myself that I’m not doing any more marmalades because I’m so sick of finely slicing things… and then about two days will pass, I’ll forget my vow, and then decide it’s a good idea to do something idiotic like make 40 jars of kumquat marmalade.  (About 5 minutes after I start, I remember that I totally meant to not go down that road again, but since I don’t like wasting things I end up powering through several cases of kumquats and getting a bunch of calluses on my fingers from all the knife-work.)

After this whole marmalade saga, I can say that as of right now, I’m officially down to one last single lemon. If you see me at a farmers market, please just say:

LISTEN.  DON’T DO IT. IT’S NOT WORTH IT. STAY AWAY FROM THE ORANGES.

(But just writing that, I start thinking – ah, but I don’t really have enough blood orange things in jars, and I never got to do anything with those rangpur limes that Shae keeps raving about , so I can basically guarantee that I’m going to continue down this destructive path of citrus addiction for atleast another month or two.)

I’m trying though! See? This rhubarb jam is completely different from all of the elaborate marmalades I’ve been working on.  It’s just plain rhubarb, no bells and whistles at all.  I wanted to make something that was bright and clean tasting and completely true to the flavor of the fruit. So the rhubarb ends up doing this sweet-tart thing that’s so, so tasty….  This is, without a doubt, in my top 5 favorite preserves.  I want to put it on everything.  I like it so much that I’m pretty sure I’m going to put in a twenty foot row of rhubarb in the garden so that I can really have enough to play with.  Rhubarb Jam

This recipe is my own, but very much inspired by the methods used in the Blue Chair Fruit cookbook and the vibrant colors of the jam over at INNA Jam, which I’ve never tasted before but I’ve stared at a lot on the internet.

Makes: a little more than 5 half pint jars

Ingredients:

  • 3 1/4 lbs. rhubarb
  • 4 c. sugar
  • lemon juice to taste, around 1/4 c.

Day 1:

Remove the leaves from the rhubarb stalks and discard.  Wash the stalks.  Slice the stalks into small pieces about 1/2″ wide.  In a nonreactive container (like a large tupperware or glass bowl), combine the chopped rhubarb and the sugar.  Cover.  Put the container in the fridge for a day or two to macerate.

Day 2:

Cook the jam: Bring boiling water canner to a boil.  Put the rhubarb mixture into a wide, heavy-bottomed pot.  Cook on high heat, stirring occasionally.  Try to be gentle when you stir so you keep some chunks of rhubarb; the pieces are very tender and fall apart very easily.  I didn’t use a thermometer when I cooked this; I noticed that the jam visibly thickened more than it really looked like it had gelled.  The rhubarb will start wanting to stick to the bottom of the pot towards the very end of the cooking time, so make sure to keep stirring and keep a close eye on it towards the end of the cooking time.  It ends up being  a soft set jam, but the texture is wonderful, thick enough.  Add in the lemon juice towards the end of the cooking time, going about a tablespoon at a time.  I wanted this to be pretty tart, so I put in a lot, but you don’t have to use as much as I did.  It’s fine to turn off the jam, let it sit for a minute, taste it, and stir in a little more lemon juice if it needs a more brightness.

Ladle cooked jam into clean jars leaving 1/4″ headspace.  Wipe the rims of the jars completely clean and screw on lids.  Process for 10 minutes, remembering to adjust for altitude if necessary.

NOTE: I like how simple this recipe is, but you could certainly use it as a starting point and add some other flavorings in.  Future batches might have things like candied ginger, orange zest, lavender, etc. mixed in, but I wanted something simple before I pulled out all the fancy stuff.

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Posted in Jam, Jelly, Marmalade and Other Preserves, Spring

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Chicken Tacos with Spring Vegetables

Posted on March 21, 2012 | 2 Comments

So I made these tacos the other day…And tacos are always delicious but these ones turned out extra-super delicious.

I didn’t use a recipe but it doesn’t matter; I can still share the technique with everyone.  As you probably know, making tacos basically involves putting a bunch of tasty things in a tortilla.  The star player of my version is this amazing chicken that’s braised with beer and tomatillo salsa all afternoon.  It’s tangy, juicy, tender, and absolutely tastes like it should be from a mexican restaurant or a taco truck.  If you have the tomatillo salsa already in jars in the pantry, fantastic, but you can also just grab a jar of the store-bought stuff and vow to can more tomatillos this summer.

Chicken Tacos with Spring Vegetables

I didn’t really put down amounts for each of the items that go in the tacos.  It’s really up to personal taste and what you have lying around in the kitchen and the garden, so it seems silly to try and specify.  Only you know how much cilantro you like.

Cook time: 25 minutes, plus a couple hours for the chicken to braise in the oven

Ingredients:

  • corn tortillas
  • braised chicken for tacos (recipe follows)
  • thinly sliced radishes
  • crumbled queso fresco
  • diced avocado
  • chopped fresh cilantro
  • grilled spring onions (recipe follows)
  • salsa of your choice (from the pantry, fresh made or store-bought will all work)
  • lime wedge for garnish

To assemble the tacos, first heat up a couple tortillas. There are lots of acceptable methods for this, but I put them on a hot grill pan for about a minute on each side.  Lay the tortillas on a plate and top each one with the braised chicken, salsa, radishes, queso fresco, avocado, cilantro, and the grilled onions.  Squeeze some lime juice on them to get really crazy.  Dig in.

 

Braised Chicken for Tacos

This chicken is equally good served over rice as it inside of a tortilla. It also holds well in the fridge for leftovers.

Cook Time: 4 hours

Ingredients:

  • 1 tbs. olive oil
  • 2 chicken breasts and 4 chicken thighs (boneless, skinless, organic)
  • 1/2 can of beer (something on the lighter side for this recipe)
  • 1 medium onion, cut in half and then sliced into strips
  • 1 tsp. garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp.  dried oregano
  • 1/2 tsp. paprika
  • 1 tsp. dark roast chile powder
  • 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
  • sea salt & black pepper to taste
  • water or stock
  • 1/2 c. medium-heat tomatillo salsa

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees or so.  Heat the olive oil in the bottom of a wide-bottomed pot (I basically use my jam pot for everything).  Add the chicken, onions and spices and saute on medium high heat for 7-8 minutes to sear the chicken and toast the spices.  Turn the heat to high.  Pour in the beer.  Add water or stock to cover the chicken.  Add the tomatillo salsa.  Give everything a stir and put it in the oven.  Cook for the afternoon.  Check it occasionally to make sure there’s liquid covering the chicken, adding more water or stock as needed. (I’m sure this would work in a crock pot but I don’t own one…)

Once the chicken is fork-tender, take it out of the oven.  I like to break apart any big chunks of chicken into smaller pieces with a pair of tongs. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

 

Grilled Spring Onions

Cook time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 bunch of scallions or small spring onions with thin, tender tops
  • olive oil
  • sea salt & black pepper

Cut the roots off the onion. Wash well to remove any dirt.  Toss with a splash of olive oil. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper.  Grill until completely cooked through and very tender, about 20 minutes, but it will depend entirely on what you’re grilling on and how hot the fire is.  (Grill pans on a stove will work fine for this).  To prepare for taco filling: roughly chop into 1″ sections.

 

P.S. I was using the first of our spring radishes for this recipe so I haven’t gotten around to pickling any of them yet, but just so you know… radishes make excellent refrigerator pickles and pickled radishes make excellent taco toppings.

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Posted in Spring, What's For Dinner?

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There’s Flour Everywhere

Posted on March 17, 2012 | 2 Comments

Check off another resolution: the February Cook it 2012 challenge is done! Bread has been baked and our kitchens have been redecorated with flour.

I’m pretty sure you folks are better bakers than I am.   I made a bunch of edible loaves, but nothing was really stellar.  I got pretty close with a loaf of whole wheat bread with flaxseeds and herbs de provence, but the recipe’s not quite there yet.   I think I need to stop baking bread on cold, rainy days  - it doesn’t rise – and I need to get an oven thermometer since all the numbers are all rubbed off my oven dial and estimating isn’t really the best plan for bread-baking.

Look at all this beautiful stuff:

and the links to everyone’s bread posts:

Brioche from Homemade Trade: Aimee, your brioche looks perfect and that cardamom-rose french toast looks divine!

Gluten-Free Bread from Vonnie The Happy Hippie : these loaves look great… can we get a recipe? I’d love to give them a try.

No-Knead Bread & Slow-Roasted Tomato Bruschetta from Adventures of the Kitchen Ninja: Instead of buying an oven thermometer and baking it myself, can you just send me a loaf? It looks so crusty and wonderful.

Rosemary Bread from The Wholesome Epicure: I bet the kitchen smelled pretty wonderful while this was baking…

Rye Bread from My Pantry Shelf:  Reubens on homemade rye bread sound like something we need to be eating, asap.  That watercress soup sounds pretty elegant, too.  Basically, I need to make rye bread.

Sourdough Bread from Grow and Resist: Those pancakes sound really good. I admire your tenacity and I will be coming to your house for bread during the apocalypse.

Sourdough Bread from Oh Briggsy: This post has great information about getting a sourdough starter going. Also this post is hysterical.  I tried making a starter and it very much did not work (though I do have a really wonderful sludgy mess of flour, that’s always charming) so I’m trying again with this method.

Thank you all for cooking along. As usual, it’s really inspiring to see what other people are making.  I can’t wait to see what you guys do with the butter challenge! 

(Stay tuned for Butter Part 2…. post coming soon… )

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Posted in Baking, Cook It 2012, Fall, Spring, summer, Vegetarian, Winter

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Cook it! 2012 March Resolution: Make Butter – Part 1

Posted on March 14, 2012 | 14 Comments

We’re into the third month of cook it 2012, and I’m pretty excited about the most recent undertaking.  So far I’ve tackled pasta-making and bread-baking, and now… butter.  I’ve been wanting to make butter ever since I read this great post here from the Hungry Tigress.  I’m all about DIY, and my olive tree is still really small and not looking very promising in the olive oil department, so making my own butter can fill the void for right now.

So one of the reasons that I’m so excited about this is that butter is such a fundamental ingredient in every day cooking.  (Most DIY food projects are really tasty, but …  those jars of marmalade that ended up too sweet and then didn’t set, that I could certainly use as a pancake or ice cream topping? They’re still in the pantry).  Butter isn’t an ingredient that you have to make an effort to use.  It’s butter.  You don’t really need to brainstorm ideas.  I don’t really think there’s such a thing as having “too much butter.”  It just disappears, like toilet paper or beer. One of the reasons I hadn’t bothered with this project yet is that I didn’t have a good source for milk.  I found some very high quality raw, organic cream at the local natural food store, but I’m hoping to find a producer in Mendocino County if I keep searching.  (…. hello?… crossing my fingers for a barrage of e-mails from local dairy producers proving me wrong about availability…)

The little pints of cream that I bought weren’t cheap at all.  The flavor is absolutely amazing, though.  I remember the first time I ate an heirloom tomato, the first time I tried foie gras, and now, the first time I tried real cream.  It has officially joined the ranks of formative culinary experiences that will forever change how and what I want to be cooking.  It makes coffee taste a million times more delicious, and I can’t wait until berry season – I need to have blueberries and cream in my life, all the time.

So not only did I discover fresh, raw cream, I also got to make butter with it. Making butter is ridiculously, joyfully easy, absolutely a beginner project that involves very little time or equipment.  So here’s the deal: You know how to make whipped cream, right? Probably in a stand mixer? Make whipped cream, but then just keep going.  There’s  a moment in the middle of the project where you might think:

Wait, I really like whipped cream.  I should just make whipped cream right now, not butter.  Lemme go bake a pie real quick to go with this.

But if you persevere and vow to buy other cream for making whipped cream on another day, this whipped cream will quickly turn clumpy and then start to separate into butter and buttermilk.  This is the part of the project where my plan totally derailed.  I have a thing that I’m making with the butter that I’m very excited about, but I got totally distracted by the fresh buttermilk and ended up making buttermilk fried chicken before I made the other, butter-showcasing recipe.  Hence the “part 1.” I have more thoughts about butter that will be coming soon….Fried chicken is extra delicious when you marinade it in this wonderful fresh buttermilk.  The little sparkles of butter that get left behind in the buttermilk will make your fried chicken taste extra special.Also that I put bacon fat in the frying oil…  that doesn’t hurt.Go big or go home, right?*

and now, some recipes:

Butter

cook time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

  • the best cream  you can find: raw is good, pasteurized is also good, but not ultra-pasteurized.  (the amount is flexible, you can buy a little bit or a lot, and you end up with either a little bit of butter or a lot)

Put the cream in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Mix on high speed for awhile.  The cream will turn to whipped cream, and then separate into butter and buttermilk.  Drain the buttermilk into a bowl and reserve it for the fried chicken (or whatever you want to make).  Use a wooden spoon to smoosh all the butter into one big clump.  Take the bowl off the stand mixer and go over to the sink with it…  Run cold water over the butter and press down with the spoon to get out any remaining buttermilk (just dump it down the sink, there won’t be much at this point).  Pack the butter into jars. They last for about a week in the fridge and freeze very well.

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

Cook Time: an hour or so

Serves: oh, 4? It depends who’s eating and how much they like chicken

Ingredients:

  • 2- 2.5 lbs. skin-on chicken pieces**

For the marinade:

  • 2 or 3 cups of fresh buttermilk (this is what I got from turning three pints of cream into butter)
  • 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 tbs. fresh herbs, minced- any combination of thyme, oregano, rosemary sage, whatever you have….
  • 1/2 tsp. black pepper

For the breading:

  • 3 c. all purpose flour
  • 1 tbs. poultry seasoning (a dried mix of the herbs mentioned above)
  • 1 tbs. garlic powder
  • 1 tbs. paprika
  • 1 tbs. chili powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp. black pepper
  • 3 tsp. sea salt

For frying:

  • 6 c. canola or other high temperature cooking oil
  • 1/4 c. bacon fat (I save the fat when we cook bacon… that’s good stuff, no need to throw it away)

Combine all the ingredients for the marinade in a large container.  Add the chicken pieces.  Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours or so.

Heat up the oils in a large, heavy-bottomed pot (I use my jam pot for frying as well).  If you have a thermometer, heat the oil to 350 degrees.  If you don’t have a thermometer, you can test that the oil is hot by putting a drop of water into the oil. If it’s hot, the water will sizzle like crazy.  Once the oil gets hot, you can probably turn the heat down to medium high or medium.  Important: Don’t rush the oil.  Make sure it’s hot. If you put the chicken into lukewarm oil it will be gross and turn out all greasy and soggy.  At this point you should also preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

While the oil is heating, combine the ingredients for the breading in a large dish.  Remove the chicken pieces from the marinade.  Try to give them a good slosh around to make sure that you get lots of marinade on the chicken as you remove each piece. Roll around the chicken pieces in the breading, making sure to thoroughly cover each piece.

Once the chicken is breaded and the oil is hot, put the chicken pieces in the oil to fry.  Work in batches so that each piece is surrounded by plenty of oil- you don’t really want the pieces to touch each other while they’re frying.  Cook the pieces for about 10 minutes, until they’re looking nice and golden brown.  Transfer the pieces to a pan with a rack and put them in the oven to finish (The rack is important! If you put them right on a pan the breading will get soggy).  The chicken will probably need about 10 minutes in the oven to finish all the way, but the time will vary depending on the size of the pieces.  Check for doneness with a thermometer; it should read about 165 degrees.

______________________________________________________

For anyone cooking along with the cook it! 2012 resolutions:

To be included in the butter round-up, e-mail me (the jamgirl@gmail.com)

with a link to your post by April 15, 2012 at 12 PM (PST).

_______________________________________________________

*J. saw me putting bacon grease in the cooking oil and was skeptical, I believe based on health reasons.  It’s fried chicken though. It’s inherently not a healthy dinner choice.  Save healthy for a different night.  I usually advocate a diet with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables and very little meat, but if you’re going to do fried chicken, you might as well just go for it.

**I used to cringe at the price of organic chicken, but then I tried it and realized it’s far superior to the conventional equivalent.  The meat is richer and… my friend Paula from Mendocino Organics described it as “more chickeny.”  They have a chicken CSA where you can get humanely raised delicious organic chicken, perfect for this recipe.

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Posted in Cook It 2012, What's For Dinner?, Winter

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Butternut Squash Bisque with Coconut Milk and Lemongrass

Posted on March 10, 2012 | 3 Comments

It’s looking like spring…It seems like it’s been spring for months now, though.The chickens are certainly happy about the mild weather, since they’d rather chase butterflies and eat grass than hang out in the frozen mud pit that is the Winter Chicken Coop.  Winter is such an important time of the year on a farm, though.  Without winter, when would I have time to watch all six seasons of Lost? To completely clean out the pantry and rearrange my canned goods in rainbow order? As much as it might seem like I enjoy hard work, there’s something to be said for sleeping in and doing nothing (which never, ever happens in the summer).  There’s nothing quite like a rainy winter day when all there is to do is keep a fire going in the wood stove and, you know, spend all afternoon experimenting with winter squash recipes.

The great thing: the weather forecast this week looks horrible! I was just about to  fully embrace spring, but it seems like we’ll still have a chance to do the whole winter thing for atleast a little while.  I have a bunch of recipes I haven’t gotten around to making yet, cold weather stuff, with ingredients like pork sausage, maple syrup, duck, butternut squash, pumpkins…. recipes like creamed winter greens, maple-chevre-cheesecake, roasted pumpkin with blue cheese and pecans.

This soup is one of my absolute favorite – best of the best – butternut squash recipes.  Before the winter squash is all gone and I get completely distracted by things like peas and radishes, I had to make it atleast once.  Butternut Squash Bisque with Coconut Milk and Lemongrass

This is an adaptation of the Winter Squash Soup from Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone (p. 216).  Her recipe is more complicated and uses more ingredients (you need to make the Stock for Curried Dishes before you can do the main soup recipe).  I’ve followed the recipe out of the cookbook before, but this is my faster, easier version.

  • 1 1/2 tbs. unrefined peanut oil
  • 1/4 tsp. coriander
  • 2 green cardamom pods
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 1 tsp. turmeric
  • 1 tbs. ginger, minced
  • 4 2” sections of fresh lemongrass
  • 2 small thai chilis, seeds and all, minced
  • 1 red onion, diced
  • 2 celery ribs, diced
  • 2 carrots, diced
  • cilantro stems (the leaves are used as a garnish, the stems go in the soup)
  • 2 1/2 lb. butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into cubes
  • water (or vegetable stock)
  • 1 can of coconut milk
  • juice from 2 limes
  • salt & pepper to taste, and an optional splash of hot sauce if the peppers don’t do it for you
  • garnish: chopped mint and cilantro leaves

Heat the peanut oil in a soup pot on medium heat.  Add the coriander, turmeric, cardamom pods, cinnamon stick and lemongrass.  Saute the spices alone for a minute or two.  Then, add the ginger, onion, carrots and celery and saute for 5-6 minutes, until the onions start to look translucent.  Add the butternut squash and cilantro stems into the pot and then cover everything with water or stock (Not too much water, just enough to cover the vegetables.  You can always add more later, but it’s hard to fix a soup that’s too thin).   Simmer for an hour or two on low heat, adding water occasionally to keep the squash covered.

Remove the tough lemongrass stalks and the cinnamon stick and discard them.  Puree the soup with an immersion blender (or whatever appliance you use to puree things…)

Stir in the can of coconut milk and the lime juice.  Season with salt and pepper.  If it’s not spicy enough for you, feel free to put a splash of tabasco sauce to give it a bit more kick.  Garnish with chopped mint and cilantro leaves.  In the past I’ve also garnished with chopped peanuts, sliced cabbage, sesame seeds, fried tofu even…. whatever makes you happy.

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Posted in Fall, Vegetarian, Winter

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How To Use Up A Whole Bunch Of Jam At Once: Spiked Peach Bread Pudding

Posted on February 29, 2012 | 2 Comments

Every once in awhile, the kitchen kind of gets out of control with my projects: Eggs everywhere. A million jars of jam.  The counter cluttered with stale ends of experiments in bread-baking.It’s rainy and cold today, but I didn’t make this dessert because I wanted to have something sweet and warm;  I made it because I had to figure out something to do with all the crap lying around in the kitchen.The only sweetener in this bread pudding is jam, so you might need to adjust it for your taste a little bit.  I used a peach jam that was a standard high-sugar recipe for this, so if you want to use a low sugar or no sugar jam, you might want to add more (or add some honey).Spiked Peach Bread Pudding

Cook Time: 1 1/2 hrs.

Serves: a lot

Ingredients:

  • 8 c. bread, cubed, from assorted odds and ends of stale bread
  • 5 c. milk
  • 1 c. sour cream
  • 1/3 c. whiskey
  • 1 pint jar of peach jam plus more for serving
  • 2 tsp. lemon juice
  • 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
  • 1 tsp. amaretto liqueur
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 6 eggs, beaten
  • garnish: powdered sugar, jam and mint leaves

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 10″ cast iron skillet.  Spread cubed bread evenly in the skillet.  In a pot on medium heat, combine the milk, sour cream, whiskey, jam, lemon juice, nutmeg, amaretto, and vanilla.  Bring to a low simmer for a few minutes and whisk everything together.  Once the sour cream and the jam have melted into the milk, turn off the heat and let the milk mixture cool for a few minutes.  Put the beaten eggs in a large mixing bowl.  This part is important: you can’t just combine the beaten eggs and the hot milk mixture together or the eggs will cook wrong and ruin the consistency of the custard.  Make sure that you follow these instructions here: Slowly pour the milk mixture into the mixing bowl with the eggs in a thin stream and whisk everything constantly while you pour. This is the custard for the pudding.

Pour the custard over the cubed bread and let it sit for 20 minutes to soak, then bake the bread pudding at 350 degrees for about an hour, or until the custard is cooked through.

Serve topped with powdered sugar and a spoonful of jam.

Note: All the important numbers (350, 375, 400, 450) have rubbed off the dial on my oven, and it doesn’t cook evenly or at the correct temperature anyway, so my cooking time might be off.  When I smelled the faintest bit or burning only twenty minutes into cooking, I realized that I had the dial set on, oh, 460? No good.  I caught it in time, though. I majorly need to buy an oven thermometer.

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Posted in Baking, Jam, Jelly, Marmalade and Other Preserves, Winter

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